Men in Black: Alien Attack
' Men in Black: Alien Attack' is a dark ride at the Universal Studios Florida park in the World Expo area, based on the 1997 film Men in Black. The attraction opened April 8, 2000 on the former site of The Swamp Thing Set. The building for the attraction was made to resemble a pavilion at the 1964 New York World Expo (similar to the World's Fair but is fictional) while the towers resemble their real life counterpart. You enter as a tourist about to view a presentation entitled "The Universe and You" but soon you ride an elevator to the facility and learn that you are trying out to be a part of the Men in Black. The ride is introduced by Rip Torn reprising his role from the movie as Zed and features Will Smith reprising his role as Agent J. Attraction summary Exterior Queue As guests enter the exterior queue they are waiting to experience the The Universe and You! exhibit at the 1964 World's Fair. Guests wait outside among Ray Kampf-designed posters advertising extraterrestrial activity and microphones giving "updates" on the fair. Guests are then ushered into the building. Pre-show When guests enter the building they move into the Universe and You! exhibit pre-show which begins narrating until it is disrupted and access is granted for MIB agent training. Guests then experience a brief elevator ride down to the MIB headquarters. Interior Queue Upon exiting the elevator you enter a hallway within MIB headquarters. As you travel down the hall you pass by the worm guys on break, several doors to various labs and through the alien scanners. At the end of the hallway you overlook the immigration processing room, with a large video screen bringing you up to date on your training. You then move into the weapons room, with a cage holding all of the agents weapons. From there you then move into the training facility where you will board your training vehicle. Ride Trainees board their training vehicles in the MIB training facility. They are then given laser guns and presented with a red button which they are told not to push. The guns are set on a low level training mode and you are sent into a training simulation as seen in the movie. After a brief training shoot out, Zed (who is played by Rip Torn) informs the trainees that an alien prison ship has crash landed in the middle of New York City. The guns are then set to full power as the trainees are instantly launched into an action packed ride and attempt to score as many points as they can by shooting the aliens in their vulnerable areas (the eyes and shoulders). Aliens vary from large, plain-in-sight creatures to small ones hiding in windows and bushes. Certain aliens will fire back causing the cart to spin. You are also pitted against another team of players (riding on a separate vehicle), when mid-ride, they are revealed to be aliens. Shooting a light on top of the other cart (referred to as a fusion exhaust port), will increase your score and cause their cart to spin. Near the end of the ride, the Giant Cockroach Alien known as the Edgar bug from the first film appears, which is immune to laser fire. Zed orders the riders to finally press the red button. There is a small window of time when the button is effective, and the first rider to press the button during this window are granted a 100 thousand point bonus (average first time riders will score about 40,000 to 60,000 points, without the bonus, while experienced riders with good aim will already be at around 350,000 points). During the wind down, Agent J will comment on the scores, comparing the two carts average (one commentary might read like: "Y'all over here got a C, you passed. Y'all got an F, only cause I can't give you a G."). If your cart achieves a low score, an alien "coach" will appear, saying "Basically, you zigged when you shoulda zagged! You gotta learn when to run and gun and when to lock and load baby. Try again!" and Agent J saying "Better luck next time, slick!" or "Not bad, slick... but not good enough" before the riders are "neuralized." The best scores result in an alien telling the riders their "suit will be ready next Wednesday," however Agent J will say "That was pretty hot, wasn't it? Too bad you're not gonna remember any of it" and neuralizes the riders anyway. The riders then are taken back to the "World Expo" section of the facility where a giant sign tells riders we are alone in the universe after all. The Universe and You! The Universe and You! is an exhibit from the 1964 New York World Expo. Guests enter what's referred to as the "Lobby" and are treated to the recreation of the exhibit. The audio of the show begins and abruptly ends when access is authorized for Men in Black training. Andy Garfield composed the music in the attraction 'Men In Black: Alien Attack." The lyrics for the song "The Universe and You" were written by the attraction's Creative Director David Cobb and the attraction's Document Control Coordinator Timothy Bernardi.